autism

I have a special soft spot when it comes to children. Every time I see a disabled or handicapped child my heart goes out to the child. I also feel for the parents. When it comes to children in the Autism Spectrum Disorder however I also feel a little angry. Why? I am not angry with the parents (I feel for them). Nor am I angry with the children.

Sometimes when I look at them my heart breaks. I am angry that there is so much misinformation about the nature and conditions that surround the problem.

Of course every time I surf the web and read what others have to say, there seem to be a range of opinions. However, the bottom line is that no one concerted school of thought apart from the Defeat Autism Network and its philosophies and practices has consistently helped ASD children recover and experience a fuller range of life and experiences.

I don’t wish to outline a treatment protocol here for ASD ( this is covered in my clinic website www.NaturalTherapies.com). What I want to do is to outline an overall procedure so that children have a reasonable chance of growing up well physically, emotionally and mentally. This is based on my experience of working with 10, 000 people of which 1,000 were children suffering from ASD, infections and allergies and emotional issues. Every adult was a child once and when I saw them , I saw the scars of inappropriate parenting.

I think parents need to make sure that they are physically, emotionally and mentally prepared to have a child. Both parents need to prepare themselves physically first. Stop smoking, drinking alcohol and the use of recreational drugs. If that seems like too much work, then the next question to ask is, “Are you sure that you are ready for the rigours of childbirth and child raising which will last for at least twenty years?” If you have been smoking or drinking then make some attempts to detoxify your liver. Ensure to the best of your ability that you have lowered the level of toxic chemicals in your system like heavy metals like mercury and PCBS like dioxin. Correct as much of your deficiencies as possible. If you are both are physically healthy, your baby has that much more chance of being physically healthy.

The next step is to be in a happy marriage or relationship. Why this provisio? It stands to reason doesn’t it that if you and your partner are happy with each other when the baby is in the womb, the mother will produce “happy molecules of emotion” (neuropeptides). This will bio-chemically program the baby in utero to be a “happy little camper”. The positive emotions will also program the baby to have positive emotions and high self esteem. In many Asian cultures, the concept of in-utero programming was practiced. Now we have “hot- housing” for producing smart kids. I have spent twenty years researching the impact of all these variables and a few books on the topics are planned. What I am outlining here are the takeaways from the research.

The baby is born. Minimise as much trauma as possible. You cannot legally avoid vaccines. However you can delay them until they are at least 1 year old. The baby’s innate immune system is at an all time high for the first 6 months. Thereafter it starts declining and other mechanisms kick in. In my experience of working with ASD children, none of whom are born with ASD just the tendency towards it, the trigger seems to be some kind of infection or vaccine (normally MMR) impacting the baby’s immune system within the first few days to few months of the baby’s birth.

Thereafter breast feed to child for at least 9 months to a year. When you start weaning them and adding solids, go slow. Notice their responses to new items and watch out for skin responses (rash, itch, cradle cap), digestive responses (colic, diarrhoea and constipation). All of these are markers of food intolerances which will eventually lead to significant health issues.

Maintaining close contact between mother and child in the first 24 hours of birth creates close bonding that results in a young person who will bond with others and be emotionally healthy and well-adjusted. Birth trauma of any kind, lack of close emotional bonding will create a young person who can grow up to be angry, distant and even psychopathic and suicidal.

It is interesting to note that the care and concern that the that parents demonstrate in the first seven years of the child’s life will critically impact him/her for thye rest of their lives. This behaviour by the parents provides the basis for imprinting that would condition the child physically, emotionally and mentally if not spiritually as to what type of person he is and what type of world he lives in. This sets the Blueprint for his Life. The role modeling they provide creates the basis for healthy well functioning happy person or a chronically dependent dysfunctional person.

The Imprint period from birth to about age 7 is the time when we are like a sponge. We pick up and store everything that goes on in our environment. The basic programming occurs between the ages of 2 to 4, by which time the bulk of the programming is complete. We also get our basic programming, which includes drivers and the script at about this age many of the cases of child abuse and or incest that is repressed normally occur about this time frame.

During this time frame the child unconsciously picks up the parents’ behaviour. Many cases of deep-seated dysfunctional attitudes also tend to originate from this time frame. The very notion of imprinting comes from Konrad Lorenz who studied the behaviour of ducklings when they hatched. He discovered that baby ducks would imprint a mother figure in the first day or so of life. So if you wish your children to have happy, positive experiences, you the parents need to live powerfully positive and happy lives.

When I first started practice 19 years ago, I had barely heard and registered that were conditions like ADHD, ADD and Autism. I think I was practicing for almost 3 years before I saw my first real case of learning disability. It was either ADD or ADHD. Since than the numbers have mushroomed. Now I may see 6 to 10 children a month. At least a third will have some kind of learning disability on top of allergy like symptoms. At least one child will be in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Nearly 12 million children in the United States of America (or up to 17 percent) suffer from one or more developmental disabilities, including deafness, blindness, epilepsy, speech defects, cerebral palsy, delays in growth and development, behavioral problems, or learning disabilities.

Learning disabilities alone affect 5 to 10 percent of children in public schools, and these numbers appear to be increasing. Prior to 1960′s the reported figure was 0.2 percent. According to the US Census Bureau in 1997, there was a 2.7 percent of children under five who exhibited some form of developmental delay.

Why is there an increase?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) conservatively affects 3 to 6 percent of all school children, and the numbers may be considerably higher. The incidence of autism seems to be increasing, though much of this apparent increase may be due to increased reporting.

Are we poisoning our kids?

Exposures to small amounts of substances like lead, mercury, or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have no discernible impact on adults, can permanently damage the developing brain of a child, if the exposure occurs when a child is most vulnerable (during development in utero up till the first six months of life) .

Early exposures to dioxin or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chemicals from industrial activities that accumulate in dietary fat, damage the developing immune system, making the child more prone to infections. Risks of asthma and high blood pressure are increased by early environmental exposures.

The gut-brain connection starts in the womb

When there is significant damage to the lining of the small intestine (intestinal villi,) multiple systems failure (ie the immune system, the digestive system, the nervous system, the endocrine system) tends to manifest. Perhaps of even greater importance is the effect on intestinal permeability. The intestines are lined with a slimy layer of mucoproteins.

This layer provides lubrication and protection for the intestinal wall as food passes down the alimentary canal. These mucoproteins must be sulphated if they are to be continuous, protective and effective. If they are not sulphated, the proteins clump together and leave exposed intestinal material which makes it more susceptible to toxic food particles. When these get into the tissues, the body’s immune system over-reacts, generating auto-immune conditions.

We believe that these peptides are the agents (bullets) which are directly responsible for the symptoms but there may be other agents, which can have a serious impact upon the total picture. In some cases, wheat (gluten) and dairy (casein) appear to be the sole elements but in other cases it is clear that other factors are involved. The involvement of peptides from gluten and casein is very large and will obscure other factors. It is only after the main sources of the bullets, gluten and casein, are removed from the diet that the smoke will clear sufficiently to allow us to detect other causative elements which are largely of dietary origin.

What can you as a parent do? You can clean up your lifestyle. Eat clean food, clean water and reduce your personal exposure to toxins. I am sorry to say this ladies, you need to stop drinking alcohol and smoking for at least one year before conception. You may also want to clean out all your mercury fillings and reduce the metal and toxic load on your body. Very often I have parents and mothers come in to see me after they have one autistic child to figure out what to do for the next.

For those who are interested in learning how to clean themselves up, the resources are outlined in the books below. Alternatively they can also access the website of my Naturopathic Practice www.NaturalTherapies.com . For those who have children with learning disabilities, they can also access the above website and look at the information on Autism and Learning Disabilities.